Beautiful all year long, Charleston is especially nice in October. Come join the fun and excellent racing. Plus there's a Greg Fisher sailing clinic on Friday and a fabulous shrimp boil and oyster roast on Saturday.

Charleston Lightning Fleet 429 had it's year-end awards ceremony today at Taco Boy over lunch. About a dozen people attended.

Fleet Championship trophies were awarded to:

Lenny Krawcheck

Patrick Hogan and Nancy Hagood

Mark Marenakos

The group also talked about things we could do to make 2013 even better. The main idea was that we travel as a block, whenever possible, to about 5 out of town regattas and announce our intentions so that others in the SELD also target those regattas. The top names that I heard were:

Deep South Regatta in Savannah (and the rest of the Southern Circuit)

Wilmington's June regatta

Wilmington's Atlantic Coast Championships

North American's in Connecticut

Augusta Halloween regatta

If you want to suggest other venues, everyone is open to suggestions.

Of course, the main in town regattas will be

Hobcaw

James Island

Charleston

Carolina — this event conflicts with the ACC's in Wilmington; so we should choose which to attend in 2013

Wild Oyster

It was great to see everyone. Greg Fisher mentioned that we might be able to have a cookout at the College of Charleston some time.

The Charleston fleet continues to grow at a rapid rate. Justin Walling and Jose Biascoechea bought hull 14684, which I’ve nicknamed “Exotic Pet”, from Chris Hamilton. They hail from James Island Yacht Club. Please join me in welcoming them to our great class.

Chris is scheduled to debut his new Allen at the District Championships this weekend.

After warming up with a 5th place finish at the Deep South Regatta in Savannah, GA, Greg Fisher with Jo Ann Fisher and Jeff Eiber crewing finished 1st in the Miami Midwinter Championship. The Fishers proved that consistency pays, with 6 finishes no better than 3rd and no worse than 9th.

Next up are the Winter Championships at the famous St. Petersburg Yacht Club. The Fishers, the Hamiltons and Will Tyner, who also raced in Miami, are expected to be joined by Mark Marenakos and Lenny Krawcheck when racing starts on Friday.